Experts expect local vaccine rollout to speed up with more supply

Preparing to ramp up vaccines From CTV Kitchener's Nicole Lampa: Officials expect vaccine rollout to speed up locally as more supply becomes available.

KITCHENER — Local experts expect COVID-19 vaccine rollout in Waterloo Region to speed up as more doses arrive.

Kelly Grindrod, a pharmacy and vaccine expert at the University of Waterloo, is also pharmacy lead for the region's vaccine task force.

"We got the news just before the weekend that the pilots were going to start," she said.

The pilot projects will provide vaccines to pharmacies across the province soon.

"It's not meant to be a long period of time," Grindrod said. "It's really just making sure, right off the bat, it works, all the systems are in place."

Shoppers Drug Mart and Rexall will participate in Waterloo Region and the Guelph area. Costco also lists locations in Waterloo, Kitchener and Guelph.

Some family doctors will also start inoculating patients between 60 and 65 with the AstraZeneca vaccine starting this weekend.

"The expansion will start in Hamilton, Toronto, Guelph, Peterborough, Simcoe-Muskoka and Peel," Premier Doug Ford said.

"We're going to be receiving, in our area, 4,500 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine to be distributed based on a rostered patient size," Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph Medical Officer of Health Dr. Nicola Mercer said. "We're going to try and do it equitably across our area."

Grindrod people shouldn't hesitate or wait when they're eligible for a vaccine.

"One of the key messages is that people should get the vaccine that they are offered, the first one they are offered," she said.

The number of vaccines distributed is expected to continue increasing in the weeks to come.